Today's Free Picks for

7:00 PM EST. This is the showdown of the season so far in the Atlantic Sun, as both Liberty and Lipscomb are undefeated in the conference and sit one, two with a 7-0 conference record. Overall, Liberty is 18-4 while Lipscomb is 16-4 but the difference between the two is mostly in their strength of schedule (and talent).

Liberty’s non-conference strength of schedule ranked 224th while Lipscomb’s non-con ranked 43rd, yet both teams have four non-con losses. The Flames (Liberty) four losses were to Vandy, Georgetown, Alabama and Austin Peay while the Bisons lost to Clemson, Louisville and Belmont twice. The losses to Belmont (both times) and Louisville were all by four points or less, thus Lipscomb could easily be 19-1 and ranked.

We take nothing away from the Flames, as they are a team that wins a lot of games and shoots with confidence but they are too three-point reliant with the four-guard system that they employ. Perhaps that had something to do with Liberty’s Jekyll & Hyde tendencies last season. In the non-con, the Flames knocked off Wake Forest and Georgia State on the road and nearly took down Houston (2-point loss) and UNC Greensboro (3OT) but, in-conference play, Liberty experienced a head-scratching stretch of five straight losses, one of which was to Big South bottom feeder Longwood at home (Incidentally, this is Liberty’s first year in the A-Sun after coming over from the Big South). Liberty’s victories have come against weaker opposition than Lipscomb.

The Bisons are balanced, experienced, well-coached, confident and without question, the least flawed team in the conference and one of the least flawed mid-majors in the country. Lipscomb returns nearly everyone from a 23-10 (10-4) Tournament team including all five starters and Nathan Moran, an every-game starter back in 2016-17. Head coach Casey Alexander has built the Bisons program into a mini-A-Sun power, improving his squad’s performance in each of his five years at the helm. Defensively, Alexander’s crew is solid (ranked 3rd in the conference in KenPom’s adjusted defensive efficiency rankings), forcing turnovers at a high rate and rebounding at the best rate in the league (23rd best in the country). With the roster continuity, LU’s offense and defense is the class of the conference. The Bisons won at SMU, they handed TCU its only loss of the season at the time and went into the KFC Yum Center in Louisville and gave the Cardinals a a massive scare in a four-point loss. Records can be misleading in sports and while we like the Flames, we’re suggesting that they’re the second best team here and we’re going to make Liberty show us that it is as legit as Lipscomb. The dog outright gets this call.

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